BLM Movement in cricket: Why Indian cricket team took a knee before the World Cup game against Pakistan?

Rishikesh Sharma | 25/10/2021
BLM Movement in cricket: Why Indian cricket team took a knee before the World Cup against Pakistan?

BLM Movement in cricket: Before the start of Pakistan’s game, the Indian cricket team took a knee to show their solidarity towards racism.

Pakistan created history by defeating India by 10 wickets in the T20 World Cupp. Shaheen Afridi took three wickets, whereas Babar and Rizwan scored unbeaten half-centuries. For his brilliant spell, Shaheen Afridi got the Man of the Match trophy. This is Pakistan’s first win over India in any kind of World Cup.

However, there was some confusion before the first ball was going to get bowled. Rohit was engaging with Babar Azam, and the spectators could not understand what it was about. Later on, it was revealed that team India wanted to take a knee in support of the BLM movement.

Rohit asked Babar about it, but he denied to do so. Later on, Team India took the knee before the first ball, whereas Pakistan stood with their hand on the chest. This was indeed a beautiful moment for the spirit of the game.

Virat Kohli was later asked about the BLM moment in the press conference after the game. Virat said, “That (taking a knee) was communicated to us by the team management.”

 BLM Movement in Cricket

BLM aka Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum last year during the protests in the USA. The knee is taken to show solidarity towards racism and all forms of social discrimination. Since last year, athletes from different sports take a knee before the game to make a statement against racism.

In cricket, the first instance happened in the England vs West Indies test series last year. This was the first series after the Covid-19 pandemic break and both teams took a knee before the game.

West Indies have been the major promoters of the movement, and teams like England, New Zealand, and Australia have also supported them in the process.


India vs Pakistan is one of the most-watched games in the world and the act of the Indian team will certainly send a strong message. There is certainly no room for racism in the World.

Post Edited By: Rishikesh Sharma
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About the author

Rishikesh Sharma

An engineering graduate and an ardent sports fan, Rishikesh Sharma is covering cricket for three years now after not making peace with a corporate life and has written more than 5000 articles. While Sourav Ganguly made him fall in love with the sport, Brendon McCullum and Gautam Gambhir enhanced it. Apart from cricket, Rishikesh is a huge fan of Liverpool FC. When not watching sports, you will find him riding around Jaipur.

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